British royal couple trek to Bhutan's blue pine forest

April 15, Gauhati: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge trekked through blue pine forests to visit a famed Buddhist monastery in Bhutan on Friday during their weeklong tour of South Asia.

Taktsang Monastery, also known as Tiger's Nest, clings to the side of a cliff. Once Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, reached it, they greeted monks in maroon robes and lit butter-fueled ritual lamps, reports said.

They listened to a guide tell the history and legends surrounding Buddhism's most sacred monastery complex, built in 1692 at an altitude of 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). According to one legend, an 8th-century Buddhist master flew to the site on the back of a tigress and subdued a local demon before staying three months to meditate.

It normally takes locals more than two hours to make the steep climb, but the royal couple — climbing hand-in-hand — were a bit faster. "The royal couple climbed very fast," Bhutan's information secretary, the Associated Press reported.